Friday, 19 May 2017

A new year

I've not been very good at keeping the blog updated mostly as the app on the iPad stopped working I have now got the new app and as I'm anchored in strong winds in Faro I have time to recount the tale!
Its been 9 months since Aros More's bottom was wet with Biscay water. I did a road trip in February to deliver some heavy items and do a few jobs when she was out of the water. I also had a survey done which thankfully turned out well.
I returned on 2nd of May and lifted in the next day. All went very smoothly after which I motored the 1 mile to Marina Coruna where I had 2 weeks on a pontoon before heading off. Lots of things to do with re rigging sails varnishing and maintenance on winches etc.A nice berth in the sun!

Having discovered the two big leisure batteries needed replacing this posed a challenge both sourcing them and removing them from under the floor as they are about 60kg each. I used my fender board and pyramid building style managed to get them up and off the boat and new ones in.Up and oot!
Coruna is a very pleasant small city with all the people around the Marina helpful and friendly. I

worked most days but found time to look around and enjoy the great hospitality of the club Nautica with Alex and Anna looking after me very well. It seems a beer comes with a lovely tapas dish so a ate well!
The time passed quickly though and soon I met Brian who after a days rest was ready to head off west and south in search of sunshine as the weather had been quite mixed.

A nice 50 mile trip to Camarinas which was great to check out everything was as it should be. So we headed off to do a short 25 miles which took us round cape Finesterre and southern seas.Finnestere
We anchored and tied up in marinas while we explored them as much as we could with the time we had. They really were very nice and not unlike our own sea lochs except of course it was sunny and warm. The places we stayed were Corcubion, Muros, Ribeira, Rianxo. It was interesting sailing among the mussel rafts when you got used to it. I had applied for the required licence to visit Islas des Atlanticas by photographing passports ships papers etc and emailing them off. Sure enough after a little reminder we got our permit which incidentally was never checked but I wouldn't want to chance not having.
The first island Isla de ONS was a quick evening run ashore which was pretty but not exceptional. Next day we headed down to Islas Cies, what a place that is. A fantastic anchorage with a beautiful beach. The weather we had was also spectacular and very hot.
We walked a fair bit when we arrived and went ashore in the evening. Next day the weather was not so good but we set out to walk the 2 miles and climb up to the lighthouse on top of the hill. A lovely walk though eucalyptus woods and just as we were approaching the top, it got foggy. I'm sure it would have been a great view!
We headed off after lunch for the short hop to Baiona which was to be the last Spanish port for us. A very historic and busy wee town but unfortunately it poured with rain for a lot of the time. We were there 2 nights as the winds were not good for us. We were going to take a trip to Vigo by bus but decided Vigo in the rain would not be the greatest use of time. We walked round castles and climbed inside madonas on hills and generally made the best of the time we had.
We headed south again in light winds and said farewell to the beautiful Spanish rias and hoisted the Portuguese courtesy flag making or first landfall in Varzim. A boatyard with a huge mix of boats some new some old some really old and neglected. Having to push on to make flight gets etc we headed next to Lexios which is right next to Porto. We shoehorned into a tight spot where I was for 4 nights. Brian and I had a good day in Porto, what a lovely city. We did the ferrys, cable cars, bridges only avoiding the port tours as they expensive for what they were.
Sadly Brian's time aboard had come to an end he was good company and good crew as always.
Davy and Colin flew in on the direct cheap Ryanair flights from Edinburgh and had a shore day with interesting shopping trips with the butcher using google translate for mince. We ended up with a kilo of high end mince for Colin's legendary Chili.
Do you think there's enough!